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Thursday, May 3, 2012

Spring Rains and Slugs

Today was a day filled with drizzle and slugs on the farm. Harvests are getting a bit slim due partly to all of the wet weather we've been having. The wet weather is slowing some of the plant growth, and it is definitely increasing the slug population, which in turn is having a negative impact on the plants that are growing.

Even so, there always seems to be something out there. For example, the chives are starting to blossom and the flower stalks and leaves are deliciously sweet right now. The new growth of the sage is also beautiful so I've tossed in a few sprigs which can be used in cooking, or in my favorite: honey tea. I hadn't planned on harvesting chard this spring, but quite a bit overwintered, which is a reflection of the mild winter we had. I'm keeping it in order to harvest a bit of seed, and the spring growth looked good so I'm tossing a few leaves into this week's share. The lettuce is slowly getting larger, at least the heads that the slugs haven't skeletonized. Some folks are getting Flashy Lightning, some Emerald Oak, some both. Radishes were on the schedule for today, but that schedule is definitely out the window at this point. I did toss a few small radishes into a couple of random shares as a little surprise bonus. I harvested way more radishes that had more slug damage than I've ever seen before. They were so eaten that there wasn't even enough root left to get a slice or two out of them.

Looks like we might get some warm dry weather soon. We need it to get a bunch of plants in the ground. I'm keeping my fingers crossed (although it would also be great if it would not completely stop raining so that I don't have to set up the irrigation yet).